A writer returns to his hometown to look into a long-ago murder in this “gripping” literary thriller with “a smashing and surprising climax” (Kirkus Reviews).After nine books, three wives, and a massive advance for his as-yet-unwritten next novel, Sam Bayer has run out of ideas. He tries to write but his characters are dull, lifeless. So his thoughts turn to his hometown, Crane’s View, and the tragedy he once encountered there.Bayer was fifteen whe...

Nominated for a 2012 Bram Stoker Award and a 2013 British Fantasy Award: Thirty-eight extraordinary stories from award-winning author Jonathan CarrollFor more than thirty years, Jonathan Carroll’s writing has defied genre conventions. Known for his novels—including The Land of Laughs, Bones of the Moon, Sleeping in Flame, and many other compelling and often surreal stories—Carroll has also created an eloquent body of short fiction. The...

An inheritance from a suicidal friend leads a film director into an unimaginable reality in this novel by an author who is “one of the special ones” (Neil Gaiman).Like many young men before them, Weber and Philip went to Hollywood to make their fortune. Weber became one of the most respected directors of his generation, but Philip’s talent went unnoticed until he found his calling making horror pictures, a genre in which his gruesome imagination could shine. But eve...

A man is drawn to a woman hiding a dark secret in a thriller Stephen King calls “terrifying, compelling reading.”Max Fischer is at the Los Angeles County Museum when he sees the woman and child who will change his life. They are Lincoln and Lily Aaron, a precocious ten-year-old and his quick-witted mother, and before Max realizes it, he’s inviting them to lunch. It seems like an innocent chance encounter, but in the years to come Max will wonder if he hadn’t been d...

This "toothy follow-up to Datlow's first-rate Blood Is Not Enough " offers "admirably inventive variations on vampirism" ( Kirkus Reviews ).Featuring stories by Jonathan Carroll, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, and Robert Silverberg, A Whisper of Blood is a "consistently engrossing anthology" from award-winning editor Ellen Datlow ( Publishers Weekly). Continuing to expan...

This novel of a woman’s breakdown after a high school reunion has “a wonderful strangeness reminiscent of Fellini” (Publishers Weekly).Miranda marches into her high school reunion with the confidence of a professional at the top of her field. But inside she is lost, disenchanted with her career, and as alone as a person can possibly be. As a teenager in Crane’s View, she fell in love with unrepentant bad boy James Stillman, and though they never slept toget...

Four strangers’ lives are turned upside down when death comes for a visitAt first it seems like an ordinary dream. Talkative Englishman Ian McGann meets a long-dead acquaintance and asks him questions about the afterlife. But when he awakes, a thick pink scar stretches across his chest. Each subsequent night, as he dreams of death, he asks more questions, understands less, and awakens with increasingly gruesome injuries. When he meets an American traveler in Sardin...

A lonely expat encounters a mysterious American couple in Vienna in this “spare, taut little novel that uncoils into horror” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).Even as a child, Joseph Lennox was happy to live in his older brother Ross’s shadow. Sadistic and charming, Ross was blossoming into a teenage rebel when one day, down by the train tracks, Joe inadvertently shoves him onto the third rail. After that fatal afternoon, Joe tried to blend into the shadows, flee...

This revised and updated second edition of Best New Horror showcases some of the very best short stories and novellas published in 1990, the year when the horror boom finally went bust. In this vilifying volume you will rediscover terrifying tales by, amongst many others, Poppy Z. Brite, Jonathan Carroll, Harlan Ellison, Elizabeth Hand, Michael Marshall Smith, Peter Straub, F. Paul Wilson, Gahan Wilson and Gene Wolfe, along with an overview of the year in horror by the editors and a nightm...

Bones of the Moon is the story of a young woman named Cullen James who leads a dual life, one in the real world and the other in her vivid night dreams set in a magical land called Rondua. In these dreams, Cullen embarks on a quest to find the Bones of the Moon, five bones that hold power over Rondua. As the dreams intensify, they begin to impact her waking life, leading to unsettling and frightening intersections between the two worlds. Alongside an enigmatic little boy also seekin...

One day Ben Gould slips on the ice, hits his head, and is supposed to die. But he doesn’t. Instead, Gould finds himself in a strange situation where he continues to live as if nothing happened. As a result, a ghost that was originally sent to guide Ben to the Afterlife is stuck on earth while its bosses try to figure out what went wrong. The situation catches the attention of various supernatural entities, besides the ghost. The story weaves through the perspectives of Ben, the ghost, his ...

Starting with the Nebula-winning title story, this "outstanding" fantasy collection by the author of Ahab's Return will have you "entranced and delighted" ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).Few writers can extract as much enchantment from the mundane as award-winning author Jeffrey Ford. His talent for storytelling is readily evident in The Empire of Ice Cream, his collection of ordinary and extraordinary juxtapositions.The bitte...